Education: EKSU students protest high charges of internet connection

Students of the Ekiti State University, on Monday protested the heavy charges of wireless internet ‎connection placed on them by the management of the institution.

As early as 7.30 a.m, the students had converged in their thousands at the only entrance to the campus and locked the main gate of the university to prevent students and staff from gaining entrance.

The students, carried placards to support their peaceful protest with inscriptions like, “Enough is Enough, we do not need wireless Internet connection in the university”, “We don’t need your internet connections anymore”, “We are not ready to pay heavy charges anymore”.

The students, who were singing anti-management songs, and marching round the main gate of the university, but did not destroy or damage any of the institution properties.

Some of the students accused the management of alleged exploitation, saying that all students were charged N13,500 for wireless internet connection for two semesters, in which most students do not subscribe to.

‎The students further alleged that the management did not consider the current economic challenges facing them and especially their parents, who are civil servants and being owed several months of arrears of salaries.

One of the students, Miss Anjorin Kemisola, said she regretted being a student of the university because since she gained admission, the tuition fees have been going up without any consideration by the management on the plights of their parents.

“I wish to say that am not happy with the way the management of the Ekiti state university are charging us, our tuition fees have always been going up, department fees are exorbitant, presently they are charging us for wireless Internet connection that we do not use at all.

“I regret coming to this university,”she said.

Another student, Ogundipe Gbenga, said that they decided to embark on the peaceful protest to inform the management of the institution that they can no longer pay for internet connection that is not useful to them.

He said most times, the internet connection was not always available for them to use and they prefer to subscribe to internet services from the telecommunication outfits.

He alleged that the staff are the people enjoying the internet connections, saying that, “Most of them will put off the data on their phones and link up with the school internet to be watching or downloading films.

“Most of us use phone with various communication data, so, we don’t use the school internet connection because it is not useful to us.

“We therefore want to appeal to the management to remove the wireless internet connection from the school charges because it is not convenient for them and their parents.

One of the students representatives, Bayo Asaolu, said the management of the institution, are not considerate and do not sympathise with their parents, who are yet to receive 8 months salaries from the state government.

He said that due to the high fees the students have to pay every semester, some of their colleagues have dropped out because they could not afford to pay the high fees levied on them by the management.

“We are out this morning to protest and not to fight or destroy the university properties because we are tired of the charges that the university often asked us to pay every semester.

The Deputy Registrar, Information and Corporate Affairs of the university, Mr Ajibade Olubunmi, said he was not aware of the protest.

“Am not aware of any protest on this campus because when I was coming to work, I did not see anyone protesting individually or in group or groups protesting, but I will investigate and get back to you, “he said on phone

Meanwhile, as at press time, Olubunmi has not called back, while his mobile phones remained switched off.